Amanda Knox Court Case - Essay Example

Amanda Knox Court Case Introduction British exchange Meredith Kercher, aged 21 and hailing from Surrey, England, was found murdered on November 1st, 2007, on her bedroom floor in Perugia, Italy. Found with stab wounds on her neck, some of Kercher’s belongings including house keys, mobile phones, credit cards, and cash were also missing (Follain 12). Fellow exchange student and American apartment mate Amanda Knox raised alarm after she found Kercher dead the next morning. While there was a shattered windowpane, it was the police’s belief that any evident break-in was faked, suspecting Amanda and Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend. Following four days and nights of interrogation, Amanda implicated herself and her employer at a bar in disputed circumstances. The police then arrested Amanda, Sollecito, and her employer Mr. Lumumba, although the later was released after Rudy Guede, an Ivorian raised in Perugia, was implicated by forensic evidence (Follain 12). Guede was convicted of the murder and sexual assault of Kercher and sent to prison. Sollecito and Amanda were found guilty during the first stage of the trial process and sentenced to 25 and 26 years in jail respectively. However, the second level of their trial saw them acquitted. The Background of Amanda Marie Knox Amanda Knox was born to Curt Knox and Edda Mellas in Seattle on July 9th, 1987. However, her parents divorced when she was still a baby. She grew up playing soccer in a bourgeois neighborhood where she earned the nickname Foxy Knoxy due to her athletic skills, a nickname that haunted her during the trial (Knox 25). Her relatives later described her as someone who did not have the full ability to pick up diverse social cues. While at school, Amanda took up an interest in the culture of the Italians and visited Italy as a fifteen-year-old together with her family. While on this trip, she decided that she would like to study there. She preferred a city such as Perugia that would allow her to meet real Italians, rather than Rome where she would mix with American expatriates (Knox 26). However, her stepfather discouraged her from moving there because he still considered her too naive. On graduating in 2005 from Seattle Preparatory High School, Amanda joined Washington University for a Linguistics Degree. As a college student, Amanda was named on the Dean’s list and was an ordinary college student with friends recalling that she was a gentle and kind individual. In the continuation of her “go-getter” attitude, Amanda decided to further her Linguistics Degree by heading for Perugia in Italy, where she was to spend twelve months at the Foreigners University (27). On getting to Perugia, she met 21-year-old student Meredith Kercher from the UK, who also studied linguistics and roomed with her. Meredith had joined the University of Foreigners where she was to study Creative Writing, German, and Italian (27). According to media reports, while Amanda Knox was to most people a young and confident woman, her family and friends felt that she was a compulsive diarist, especially since she was averse to all types of conflict. These traits, which she showed during her time in high school and Washington University, including yoga practice at inappropriate times and her open and bubbly personality, were to have an effect on the trial. These traits made her more conservative, and reticent room and apartment mates viewed her critically while also causing the Italian police and prosecutor to be suspicious of her. The Murder of Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher Meredith Kercher was a UK citizen born in 1985 in South London’s area of Southwark. On joining the University of Foreigners, Kercher checked into a ground floor apartment with four bedrooms at Via della Pergola. This house was thought of as locals to be in a bad neighborhood, although most liked it for its panoramic view of Perugia. Her apartment mates included Amanda Knox and two other women. Meredith Kercher’s roommates did not see often Amanda Knox, as she preferred mixing with local Italians (King 29). In addition, when she was not in class or socializing, she had a part time job at Le Chic bar owned by Congolese immigrant Patrice Lumumba. Young men of Italian origin rented the semi-basement, which also served as the building’s walkout. Meredith and Amanda were both friendly with these men and one of them, Giacomo, was a constant visitor to the two girls’ apartment because of their shared love of the same music. On a mid-October night as Amanda, Meredith, Giacomo, and one other resident of the basement were returning home, they met Rudy Guede, who was interested in knowing Amanda (29). The two Italian men welcomed him to the basement after which they were joined by Meredith and Amanda. At about half past four in the morning, Meredith excused herself to turn in followed by Amanda. Three weeks before Meredith Kercher was murdered, she and Amanda had visited the Euro-Chocolate festival. After this, she and Giacomo became romantically involved, and he accompanied the two girls to a music concert at which Amanda met a 23-year old Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, and he began to spend time with her at his apartment, which took five minutes on foot from her own apartment (31). She also brought her to the apartment on one occasion to make a meal for her apartment mates, during which they noticed that they were very romantically involved. On 1st of November, which was an Italian public holiday, Meredith’s Italian apartment-mates took a trip out of Perugia. The occupants of the apartment downstairs were also absent from the apartment. In the evening, Meredith joined by three English ladies for dinner at one of their homes, after which she left for her Via della Pergola apartment at quarter to nine. The walk was a distance of some five hundred yards. Court appointed experts contended that Meredith Kercher was murdered between quarter to nine and ten minutes to one (32). According to Amanda’s account, she returned to her apartment in Via della Pergola on 2nd of November and found the apartment’s door open with visible drops of blood on the floor. It was her initial assessment that this was menstrual blood, especially since it was on the bathroom floor that she and Meredith shared (35). She also claimed that she found Meredith’s door shut and took it as an indication that she was asleep. She went on to take a shower and noticed that the second bathroom’s toilet had feces in it and contended that she found it odd. After phoning her other Italian apartment-mate to inform her on what she had found at eight minutes past midnight, she returned to her boyfriend Sollecito’s house where she cleaned up a kitchen sink leak with a mop she claimed she had carried from her house. She then had breakfast and walked back to the apartment with Sollecito at which time they noticed that the windowpane to Meredith’s bedroom was shattered, which they took as a sign of a break-in. After Meredith’s failure of answering their knocks on her door, Sollecito tried and failed to break in the door. This led to them calling the carabinieri, although the police arrived before them as part of an investigation of mobile phones that had been discovered in a garden and traced back to the apartment (36). Meredith and Sollecito told the police that they had already alerted the carabinieri and that they hand discovered a shattered window and the bathroom had blood drops over it. After the return of one of their Italian apartment-mates, the crime scene was disturbed as she searched around for anything that may have been stolen during the crime (48). The Italian apartment-mate and her friend later claimed that the glass from the broken window was on top of the scattered and disturbed things in the apartment. However, this could not be proved, as there were no pictures of the crime scene. When they discovered that Meredith’s personal mobile phone had been discovered in a remote garden, one of the Italian apartment-mates became alarmed and suggested that they force their way into her bedroom (48). When the police said no, one of her male friends forced his way into the bedroom at quarter past one in the afternoon. Meredith Kercher’s body was found on the bedroom floor lying on her back, and covered by a blood soaked duvet of light beige color. Her neck had three stabs from a knife with the main stab wound located on the left side of her neck with dimensions of eight centimeters in length (51). From the crime scene, it was concluded that she had died from a combination of suffocation and loss of blood. On checking the scene out, Flying Squad detectives were immediately suspicious of the incident being a burglary, especially because they thought that, the window was too high for a burglar to have entered the building it at almost twelve feet above ground. However, it was also possible for someone to use the gratings on the wall as footholds, especially if they were physically capable, and reach the broken window (51). Amanda Knox Murder Trial At around three in the afternoon, police requested that Amanda, her apartment mates, and their friends accompany them to the station for further enquiries. Amanda was questioned repeatedly for the next 4 days and, although the police insisted that she be interviewed as a witness, interrogation safeguards for suspects, such as recording of interviews and presence of legal representation, were not provided (Burleigh 54). On November 6th, 2007, the police formally arrested and charged Meredith Kercher and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito with the murder of Meredith Kercher. Amanda claimed that she barely knew the suspect Rudy Guede, who had been charged in place of the bar owner Mr. Lumumba after forensic evidence pointed towards him (55). She pled not guilty to all the charges preferred against her and was remanded in prison for the length of the legal process. The trial began on January 16th, 2009, and it was presided over by Judge Giancarlo Massei at Perugia’s Corte d’Assise. Amanda and Sollecito were accused with having been present at the Via della Pergola on the night of the murder accompanied by Rudy Guede to murder Meredith. The reconstruction presented by the prosecution showed that Amanda had attacked Meredith and banged her head repeatedly on a wall before attempting to strip her (Burleigh 55). When she failed, she used a knife to cut her and inflicted deadly wounds using the knife. The prosecution also argued that she had stolen her two mobile phones in an attempt to make it look like a burglary. According to the prosecution, this act had been committed together with Rudy Guede, who’s DNA, fingerprints, and shoe prints were discovered in Meredith’s bedroom (56). His DNA was also found inside Meredith’s body and on her clothing, while a mixture of his and Meredith’s DNA was discovered in Meredith’s bedroom. The prosecution also claimed that the reason Amanda and Sollecito’s forensic traces were missing was that they had cleaned them out. The case presented by the prosecution was centered on interactions between Meredith and Amanda, as well as Amanda’s general demeanor and actions during the day of the body’s discovery (57). The American media thought the questioning line taken by the judge was “relentless,” especially his pointed questioning about minute details such as the timing of her calls on the mobile phone and her touching of various light switches in the apartment. Amanda repeatedly told the judge that she did not remember these things, which increased suspicions of guilt. The prosecution also claimed that a knife discovered in Sollecito’s house was tainted with DNA from Meredith. However, the defense attorney introduced expert witnesses who contended that the amount of DNA discovered on the knife was insubstantial and could not possibly produce any conclusive evidence of ownership (57). The defense also pointed out the contamination of the DNA by other samples, while also noting that the various samples were not labeled with dates that would have allowed the court to determine whether testing occurred, on the same day, to avoid the risk that could result due to cross-contamination (75). The defense attorney requested that the court ordered the evidence to be subjected to an independent review, including compatibility of the murder weapons, wound compatibility, and the DNA. However, their request was turned down. During final submissions, the defense attorneys for Sollecito described Amanda as a fragile and weak lady whose weakness had allowed her to be duped by Perugia police and investigators. Amanda’s attorney Mr. Luciano Ghirga contended that DNA contamination at the forensic lab was a possibility and that text messages proved that Amanda and Meredith were friendly. However, on 5th December 2009, Amanda was convicted of murder, sexual violence, slander, and faking a crime scene, which resulted in a sentence of twenty six years (76). Fifteen days after the conviction, examination of crime scene DNA by a forensics lab showed that the evidence pointed towards the guilt of Rudy Guede. Guede admitted that, although he was present at the scene of murder, he was not the killer, while also claiming that Sollecito and Amanda were not involved (82). Five months after the conviction and sentencing of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, their defense attorneys filed appeals to contest witness credibility and evidence presented and the process began in December of the same year. The defense attorneys introduced a witness who testified that Guede had confided that Amanda and Sollecito had nothing to do with the murder. The two convicts also received support from the Idaho Innocence Project in the US that used DNA in reversing the conviction of innocent people. On review of DNA used in the evidence, DNA experts from Sapienza University in Rome pointed out many fundamental errors in the gathering and evaluation of evidence. A police video also showed that the gloves used to handle DNA were dirty. Police forensic investigator Mr. Vecchiotti also agreed on cross-examination that a gap of a few days in DNA sample analysis was sufficient in removing cross-contamination possibility (83). In October 2011, the convictions were reversed, although the one on defamation against Amanda on Mr. Lumumba was upheld, for which she was sentenced to 3 years in jail or a fine. Due to the allegations and the perceived physical appeal of Amanda, she was the subject of intense global coverage by the media in the US, UK, and Italy especially. The US media was critical of the manner in which UK and Italian media were involved in character assassination of the suspect and her demonization (91). The media also picked up on her nickname “foxy Knoxy”, which may have adversely affected her first trial. Owing to her court hearings, which were televised, she was considered as a more famous personality than Carla Bruni in Italy was, while she was also named one of 2011 most fascinating personalities in the US media. She was also named as one of the “sexiest” women of 2012 by Maxim magazine (91). Aftermath of the Case and Amanda Knox’s Life Back in Seattle After her acquittal, Amanda returned to Seattle and rejoined the University of Washington. However, she and her former Italian boyfriend Sollecito were ordered to stand trial again in March 2013 by Italy’s Supreme Court for Meredith Kercher’s killing (Follain 34). The Court of Cassation reversed their acquittals, and the new trial kicked off in October 2013. Amanda and Sollecito have not indicated they will attend the trial. She presently lives the International District area of Seattle. She lives with Madison Paxton, her best friend, in the same apartment. She recently published a book Waiting to be Heard, released by Harper Collin. Amanda granted an interview to Matt Lauer’s Today Show, in which she claimed she wished to meet Meredith’s parents and reconcile with them, while proving her innocence to them (Follain 42). She also granted a Skype interview to RAI TV in which she argued she was suffering due to the mistakes of Italian police. In the interview, she said she hoped the new retrial would finally settle the issue, although she would not be attending (43). Amanda also granted an interview with the UK’s ITV show Daybreak, during which she claimed that she still maintained her innocence and would not be averse to taking a lie detector test to prove it. On the show, she also said she would not attend her retrial in Italy, claiming that the Italian media and police hand hunted her down, and she was wrongly imprisoned for it. She held that the case had already been resolved but that Italian police were still holding onto circumstantial evidence. In another story done by KING 5’s Linda Byron, an investigative reporter, Amanda shared her fears and hopes, as well as the support and welcome she received from her hometown. Works Cited Burleigh, Nina. The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox. New York: Broadway Books, 2013. Print. Follain, John. A Death in Italy: The Definitive Account of the Amanda Knox Case. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2012. Print. King, Gary. C. The Murder of Meredith Kercher, London: John Blake, 2010. Print. Knox, Amanda. Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir, New York, New York: Harper, 2013. Print. Read More